Spider-Man: Miles Morales – best Skills and how to unlock them

With great power comes great skill trees.

Jim Hargreaves 11/11/20 Comments Closed

With great power comes great responsibility – and a big ol’ skill tree. Much like Insomniac’s original game, Spider-Man: Miles Morales features a web of superhero skills that can be unlocked as you level up, progress through the story, and explore more of Manhattan.

Just a brief heads-up: if you’re wanting wanting to completely avoid gameplay spoilers then we’d advise giving this guide a miss. One of the skills trees in Spider-Man: Miles Morales directly links to a new power some players may not want to know about before starting a playthrough, even if it has little relevance to the story.

This semi-sequel sports an entirely new range of skills. Instead of Peter Parker’s Innovator, Defender, and Webslinger paths, you will get to peruse a list of Combat, Venom, and Camouflage skills that gradually reveal themselves the more you play. There are also nine “Challenge Skills” up for grabs which can be unlocked just a little way into the game. These are directly tied to challenge missions and don’t have a level requirement or skill point cost.

You should be able to unlock of Miles’s skills by the time you’ve hit level 20 and completed the story. The main missions alone won’t pay out enough experience points to reach this level so you’ll need to cross off some side activities. The lists below show all of the available skills and what they do. Note that some of the best skills can only be accessed when playing Spider-Man: Miles Morales in New Game+ mode.

Venom Skills

Name	Level	Cost	Description
Venom Smash	1	1	Press L1 + Square + Cross to perform a Venom Smash that will damage and Venom Stun surrounding enemies
Venom Jump	3	1	Pressing L1 + Cross launches nearby enemies into the air, disarming and Venom Stunning them.
Synaptic Breakdown	4	1	Doubles the length of time enemies are Venom Stunned.
Floodgate	5	1	Increases the range of Venom Punch splash damage, which allows more enemies to be Venom Stunned on impact.
Miles Smash!	9	1	Increases Venom Smash’s area of effect.
Venom Rocket	16	1	Off The Wall attacks cause Venom Stun on impact. This can happen only once every 5 seconds.
Venom Dash Launcher	11	1	Press Cross when landing on an enemy during Venom Dash to perform a free Venom Jump, launching enemies into the air.
Bio-Electric Instincts	New Game+	N/A	Mega Venom Blast automatically triggers before a fatal hit at no cost. Can happen only once per combat encounter.

Combat Skills

Name	Level	Cost	Description
Energy Syphon	3	1	Increase the rate of Bio-Electric Power generation from attacking and dodging, raising the amount in the Venom Bar.
Web Yank Opportunist	4	1	Hold Triangle to perform a Venom Yank attack after sending an enemy flying from a Melee Combo or Venom Attack.
In For A Shock	5	1	Venom Stunned enemies take 50% more damage from basic attacks.
Spread The Love	6	1	Venom Stunned enemies knocked into other enemies will transfer their Venom Stun.
Trained Technique	8	1	Allows a second Finisher to be banked. Reduces Combo requirement for a second finisher to 10. Special enemies can be defeated with 2 Finishers.
Gunslinger	10	1	Hold Triangle to yank and throw guns imbued with Bio-Electric Power. They will explode on impact, Venom Stunning and knocking enemies down.
Final Countdown	15	1	Finishers generate 40% of a Venom bar.
Let’s Go!	New Game+	N/A	Allows a third Finisher to be banked.

Camouflage Skills

Name	Level	Cost	Description
Concealed Presence	7	1	Camouflage Energy refills 20% faster.
Measured Response	7	1	Attacking while Camouflaged costs less Camouflage Energy.
Unseen Strike	8	1	When defeating an enemy with Venom attacks, the final blow doesn’t cost Camouflage Energy.
Never See It Coming	11	1	Venom Punch does bonus damage when used while Camouflaged.
Patient Spider	12	1	Increases the maximum amount of Camouflage Energy, allowing you to remain invisible longer.
Web Cocoon Bomb	13	1	Hold L1 + R1 to yank down stealth cocooned enemies, causing them to impact the ground and web up nearby enemies.
Blinding Light	14	1	Prss L3 + R3 while Camouflaged to trigger a blinding flash of light that reveals you and stuns surrounding enemies.
Unseen Force	New Game+	N/A	While Camouflaged, the Combo counter no longer resets, and a bonus Combo point is generated per attack.

Challenge Skill

Name	Challenge	Description
Spin Cycle	Combat Challenge 1.0	When throwing an enemy, rapidly press Triangle during the throw to continue spinning them.
Point Launch Boost	Traversal Challenge 1.0	Press Cross on contact when zipping to a point to massively boost Point Launch distance.
Silent Step	Stealth Challenge 1.0	Enemies take longer to detect you in stealth.
Payback	Combat Challenge 2.0	Press Triangle after a Perfect Dodge against rifle and pistol shots for an instant Takedown.
Quick Recovery	Traversal Challenge 2.0	After landing, press Cross during a roll to launch back into the air.
Scare Tactics	Stealth Challenge 2.0	Stealth Takedowns generate more Venom.
Air Marshal	Combat Challenge 3.0	Air attacks deal additional damage and generate more Venom.
Quick Zip	Traversal Challenge 3.0	Web Zip with Cross a second time without losing altitude.
Surprise Attack	Stealth Challenge 3.0	Upgrades Web-Strike Takedowns so nearby enemies are knocked back.

The rate at which new skills become available means that you’ll rarely be forced to choose between two when spending skill points.

Spider-Man: Miles Morales Best Skills

In terms of which skills are best hinges on whether you’re more of a combat or stealth player. However, everyone can agree that the three traversal challenge skills – Quick Zip, Quick Recovery, and Point Launch Boost – are all must-haves in terms of keeping Miles mobile as he explores New York.

On higher difficulty settings you’ll want to leverage those Venom powers as much as you can. Synaptic Breakdown, Floodgate, and Venom Rocket, can be combined with In For A Shock and Spread The Love to keep entire waves of enemies stunned and therefore prone to more damage.

Camouflage will likely be underused by most players, even during stealth segments. If you want to play as silently as possible, you should look at equipping suitable mods instead including Ghost Strike, Optical Triangulation, Eyes On Target, and Eyes In The Back Of My Head. Read our Spider-Man: Miles Morales suits guide for a more details breakdown.

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Written by

Jim Hargreaves

Senior Editor bursting with lukewarm takes and useless gaming trivia. May as well surgically attach my DualSense at this point.